This is an article that
appeared in the Florida Times Union about our trips.

Saturday, October 26, 2002

Last modified at 4:18 p.m. on Friday, October 25, 2002

As morning breaks, a dolphin's fin breaks the waters of Mills Creek,
where hundreds of dolphins gather each year for their
week-and-a-half-long mating season.

-- Diane Uhley/staff

First Coast's beauty could be tourist draw

More park land being set aside

By Caren Burmeister
Shorelines staff writer

Some Beaches residents are so caught up in the daily rush of life they've never
seen the throngs of dolphins playing and chasing schools of Spanish mackerel in
the St. Johns River.

They've never seen the storks and rosette spoonbills gathered deep in the
salt marsh, where even boats and long-lens cameras can't reach them.

They never sat still in a canoe and watched a white heron, reflected on the
glassy surface of the Intracoastal Waterway, zero in on its next meal.

A great white heron takes flight from its perch on a dead tree in the
marshes of the Intracoastal Waterway.

-- Diane Uhley/staff

"It's great out here," said Jim Hammond, an eco-tourism guide and
lifetime fisherman who is never bored by the playful dolphins in Mills Creek.
"I get so many 'oohs' and 'aahs' from this. You can almost put your hand in
the water and touch one. How many people have seen this for real?"

Hammond is one of many business people who are earning a living off the
delicate beauty and land along Jacksonville's rivers, some of which is being
preserved through the Northeast Florida Blueways Project.

The Blueways is a string of islands along the Intracoastal Waterway between
the Timucuan Ecological Preserve and St. Johns County that includes Dutton
Island in Atlantic Beach and Cradle Creek Preserve in Jacksonville Beach.

A male and female dolphin rise together out of the waters of Mills Creek
earlier this month. Mills Creek is one of the few spots in the state
where dolphins congregate in large numbers during mating season.

-- Diane Uhley/staff

Mayor John Delaney's Preservation Project is working with Beaches cities to buy
as many of the islands as possible to stop their development and promote
recreation and tourism.

Dutton Island, the first island preserve purchased, officially opens today
with a bus tour of the island and speeches by former Atlantic Beach mayors Lyman
Fletcher and Suzanne Shaughnessy, who pushed for the island's purchase.

Among other things, the preserve will have a 100-foot fishing pier, hiking
trails and a canoe and kayak launch.

"There's some significant biological diversity on the island," said
Atlantic Beach City Manager Jim Hanson. "I've been told the fishing is very
good out there too."

Castaway Island Preserve, a 300-acre wildlife sanctuary and wetland area on
the west bank of the Intracoastal Waterway off San Pablo Road is expected to
open in the spring.

On Nov. 9, Kayak Amelia will start running a kayak and canoe rental
concession at Big Talbot Island. Next year, Jacksonville plans to start up the
River Taxi, a water taxi that can carry dozens of passengers, that will run from
Fort Caroline to Sisters Creek and the Kingsley Plantation.

Two boaters head out toward the marsh in the St. Johns River.

-- Diane Uhley/staff

While tourism officials have no hard numbers on the economic impact of the
Blueways project, the potential is ready to be tapped, said Kitty Ratcliffe,
president of Jacksonville & the Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"I really think this community is setting a standard," said
Ratcliffe. "That will make it so much easier for the average person to go
out and enjoy this. We can start to really market the area, identifying specific
experiences that visitors they could have there."

The marshlands are a prime habitat for many rare birds, most notably the wood
stork and possibly Worthington's marsh wren and MacGillivray's seaside sparrow.
The tidal marshes and many small creeks that wind through them provide a nursery
for fish, crabs, oysters and birds nests, some of which are rare and endangered.

The islands will have miles of self-contained trails that could tell the
story of the land's history and its diverse species, which could easily be
depicted on visitors' maps and brochures.

A 1998 study by Visit Florida, the official tourism marketing corporation for
the state, showed that about half of Florida visitors included some type of
nature-based activity in their itinerary, said spokesman Tom Flanigan.

The trend in tourism seems to be moving toward seeing the "real
America," especially since last year's terrorist attacks, he said.

"Travelers are seeking an experience that reflects a unique sense of
place," Flanigan said.

Hammond, who grew up fishing with his father and traded in a data processing
job for his captain's license, said he has been trying to tell tourism officials
that for years. But he said they didn't seem interested.

"The city hasn't promoted this water at all," Hammond said.
"There's so much to be had here. This could be the tourist mecca of the
South."

Delaney's Preservation Project, which began in January 1999, has so far
purchased 35,337 acres of sensitive land across Duval County, which includes the
Blueways Project.

"We're early in this," said Mark Middlebrook, Preservation Project
manager. "It's a diamond in the rough."

In addition to eco-tourism, the preservation program is used as a growth
management tool.

For example, three subdivisions had been proposed for Castaway Island
Preserve, which would have brought homes to a high flood risk zone and increased
traffic on San Pablo Road, one of the city's busiest two-lane streets.

Instead, now people have a quiet place for rest and contemplation, exercise
and education, Middlebrook said.

"No other city in the nation has this," he said.

Jacksonville conservationists are getting in line to buy 5 acres of pristine
tree-lined land at Seagate Avenue in Neptune Beach along the Intracoastal
Waterway in case plans fall through for a controversial development there.

In addition, the Trust For Public Land, a national non-profit group committed
to saving environmentally sensitive land, is appraising five islands owned by
George Hodges off Butler Boulevard near The Sanctuary in Jacksonville Beach.
Hodges recently marketed the island home sites with signs nailed to trees along
Butler Boulevard.

Meanwhile, The Trust For Public Land is also working on some preservation
projects south of the Palm Valley bridge, but has no contracts at this point.

The Trust for Public Land has a contract with Jacksonville to help identify,
appraise and negotiate on land preservation projects. They are competing for
prime property with developers, said Susan Grandin, director of the trust's
Jacksonville office.

"The idea is to get out there ahead of the development curve,"
Grandin said. "That makes it very difficult."